Clyde May's Moonshine

[Simon Majumdar]

Just watching on the early morning news that a number of illicit moonshine producers have been given an amnesty and are being allowed to produce and sell their Hooch legally

The major one is in Alabama and is called Clyde May's

It is being promoted with a heavy marketing spend and the packaging looks not unlike JD

Does anyone know any of these brews? Are they any good and are there any mail order firms who will ship to the UK?

Thanks

S

Edited January 2, 2003 by Simon Majumdar (log)

[stellabella]

Simon, I'm afraid I can't help you here, but I will share a still-poignant childhood memory.

I was youngish, 9 or 10, sitting at the kitchen table with one or more sisters, staring with fear and awe at the passel of red-faced men [of whom an endless number seemed to parade through my childhood] passing around a mason jar half-filled with a clear, oily liquid.

"Daddy, what's that?" we asked innocently.

My dad had that look on his face, both eyebrows cocked, grinning with his cheeks pulled into his eyesockets, revealing the gold glint of his partial plates.

"Why don't you try it and find out?" he hooted.

I was the first to ask to have the jar passed to me. A grimy strip of masking tape stuck to the jar read "Splo." I tilted the jar towards my mouth, then recoiled in horror and pain as waves of acid heat singed my nostril hairs. But, not wanting to be humiliated in front of my earliest role models, I kept lifting the jar to my face until I was able to pour a couple drops into my mouth. After the initial shock of heat and toxicity, I was able to smell the smooth corn liquor. But it tasted bad, bad.

"What is it?" I asked.

Suddenly my dad wore his serious lawyer face. ''Now, girls, this is alcohol, and don't you go telling your friends your daddy has alcohol in a mason jar. We could get into trouble."

At the time I wondered why in the hell my dad was drinking alcohol. Wasn't that for rubbing on cuts? Likker, fine, but ALCOHOL?

Of course, this small yet significant moment has largely shaped me into the person I am today.

Simon, when you get to the South next time, I say we go on a hunt for Splo.

Edited January 3, 2003 by stellabella (log)

[Simon Majumdar]

Simon, when you get to the South next time, I say we go on a hunt for Splo.

I am so glad you added that last bit

However wonderful, you can't drink a memory

Booze from a mason jar. MMMmmm ( another Homer style drool )

S

[jhlurie]

I've seen a few recent reports on this. Most the fun is gone from the 'shine, because they insist on packaging and marketing the majority of it as "Microbatch Whiskey". Yuck. If they can't call it "moonshine", they could at least call it "likker".

[pjs]

I'm particularly fond of the mass produced "Everclear". 151 proof pure grain alcohol. I distinctly remember the bottle having at one time a locomotive on the label. Lately the label mostly has warnings about health and volitility concerns, e.g. this shit can explode or catch fire if mishandled or kill you if you drink it.

PJ

PS: I only use it to mix up shellac flakes. I'd only drink it in an emergency.